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TYLESSED be the God and Father of our Lord 
*~r Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God 
of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our afflic- 
tion, that we may be able to comfort them that are 
in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we 
ourselves are comforted of God. (2 Cor. i. 3,4.). 




E: D. PALMER, SCULPT. 

THE ANGEL AT THE SEPULCHRE 



He is not here, but is risen. (Luke xxiv, 6.) 



Messages of Comfort 



BY 



MARY NORTH BLAKESLEE 




1 D ~) ■ 5 D 3 






BOSTON 
SILVER, BURDETT 6- COMPANY 

221 COLUMBUS AVENUE 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Copie8 Received 

APR. 5 1901 

Copyright entry 

Of*.*,"?*' 

CLASS Cl/XXo. N«. 
COPY B. 



^ 5 



<o 



Copyright) ipoi 9 by 
SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY 



' I y HE groups of angel figures and the picture of Christ in this book 
■*• are from the very beautiful rose window placed in the Church of 
the Redeemer, Paterson, N. J., by the late lamented Vice-President 
Hobart, as a memorial to his only daughter, who died in Milan, Italy. 
In the window the figure of Christ is in the centre panel, and is sur- 
rounded by eight groups of adoring angels, expressive of youth in face 
and form, and bearing lilies as symbols of purity. This window was 
designed by Mr. Edward P. Sperry of the Church Glass & Decorating 
Company «f New York, by whom it was built, and by whose kind 
permission some portions of the design are here used. 






© * « 
■ t i t * 



v. '.,' "l.J 

ARRANGED AND PRINTED BY THE 
WAYSIDE DEPARTMENT OF THE 
UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 




THE FIRST EASTER MORNING 



We sit beside the lower feast to-day ; 

She at the higher. 
Our voices falter as we bend to pray; 

In the great choir 
Of happy saints she sings, and does not tire. 

Susan Coolidge. 



/ I v O a beloved daughter, whose earthly life. was 
-*■ a benediction of comfort to all who knew 
her, and whose blessed memory is a continual mes- 
sage of peace. 

M. N. B. 

Easter, 1901. 



Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be 
comforted. (Matt. v. 4.) 



10 



Contents 

PAGE 

The Longed-for Message . . . . • . 13 

The Unrecognized Message . . . . 21 

The Message of the Evening Star . . 29 

The Message of Faith ...,., 39 



1 1 



The Longed- for Message 





We miss her in the place of prayer, 
And by the hearth-fire's light ; 

We pause beside her door to hear 

Once more her sweet " Good-night ! " 

Fold her, O Father ! in thine arms, 

And let her henceforth be 
A messenger of love between 

Our human hearts and thee. 

John Greenleaf Whittier. 



14 



s^n a£n> s^f3 €^tn c^n ^rs c&n £$n ^m o&rs c$r» c$n ei$n> s^q o^ 



The Longed-for 
Message 




s^ra s^to s^ra ^r^ a$ra r$ra 6i#n o&n) s^q a£rd <r$ra f^rs €$n> gt&q o&q 

IN the beautiful story of the 
child Samuel and the voice 
that spoke to him at even- 
ing, it is said, by way of 
preface, " In those days 
there was no open vision/' 
But the child was obedient to the words 
that came to him out of the darkness as he 
lay upon his couch near the holy things 
in the great tent where the people wor- 
shipped. In like manner comes the voice 
to-day, though there is no sight nor sound. 
There was a household — and alas ! it is 
not the only one — upon which the shadow 
of a great sorrow had fallen. The one to 
whom all the others had looked for grace 
and comfort had passed away into the 
silence. She had always seen what each 
one needed, whether it was the word of 

*5 



F$n ^To £^T5 &&1; G$n>£$TZC$Jl)C$T6 O^TS ^$T3 z$n c&n F$J1) z$n ST&Q 

The Longed-for Message 

cheer or the quick help of word or deed. 
If any one bore a heavy burden — and in 
that household there were those who were 
sometimes overburdened — to her they in- 
stinctively turned, for her bright spirit could 
share the anxiety without any dimming of 
its own happiness. She did all this so 
quietly that often one did not notice any- 
thing but the comfort and relief which her 
presence brought. Now all that was gone, 
and in its place nothing was left but the 
dull, familiar pain, 

"And weariful attempts to guess 
The secret of the hiding skies, 
The soft, inexorable blue." 

They had laid her out of their sight, on a 
quiet hillside sloping gently toward the sun- 
rising, and each evening, as her mother 
looked out upon the night, she thought of 
that quiet place and of the lonely sleeper. 
She knew her loved one was not there, and 
as she looked up at the silent stars wheel- 
ing overhead in their mysterious circles, 

16 



F&n> &&n £$n c&r* G$n G^tn &&n c&n c$n c^n c$n rifo <^tn c$n c$n 
The Longed- for Message 

there seemed to be a message in their shin- 
ing which she struggled in vain to read. 
" Where in the heavenly spaces is now that 
beautiful soul ? " she asked. " If I could 
only know a little where she is. Her life 
cannot be quenched entirely. God could 
not be the God we think He is, if He could 
so waste that which is so infinitely precious." 
The mother's faith was firm and steady, yet 
she longed with a great longing to hear the 
dear voice say, " I am somewhere, and it is 
well with me." 

One evening, quite by accident, she met a 
woman who had been bereaved, and who 
had found, as she most confidently believed, 
great comfort from the visible form and 
actual touch of the beloved one. There 
was not a suggestion in her speech of the 
vulgar juggling which has made the name of 
spiritual communication a hissing and a by- 
word. You hoped it was with her as she said, 
for it seemed as if it might be, to one like 
her ; yet, as she talked of it, the mother's 

17 



The Longed-for Message 

heart felt the strong desire for the visible 
presence slacken. Not for worlds would 
she call back her dear one, to demean 
herself to this world's lower needs, as if a 
prince should leave the delights of his pal- 
ace, and hiding himself in cloak and hood 
be jostled in the highways by the unmindful 
crowd. 

"If God could let her come and speak to me 
some day, if but for one short moment — 
but I dare not ask it ; how can we under- 
stand what limitations of space shut around 
us on this dim earth? — but why may I not 
ask for her dear invisible presence with me, 
not her sweet memory only?" 
The mother has never seen the shadows 
of her room shape themselves into the misty 
form. She never wakes to see " the happy 
face and tranquil eyes " looking down upon 
her in the dim morning hours from beside 
her bed, as she once dreamed she might. 
But in that household a sweet influence 
abides, like that which broods over the earth 

18 



C&J1) &&TZ a^Q 0#T3 G^J1> S^fS C&T2 &&31) titiD S%3 £^T3 6^TS 6^T3 g^T3 6^ 

The Longed-for Message 

in the quiet autumn woods on All Saints' 
Day, when we are ready to believe with those 
who say, "The blessed dead are with us, 
for the calm on earth and sky accord with 
their actual presence/' In that home care 
whitens the hair, perplexity furrows the 
smooth foreheads, youth slowly grows to 
earnest manhood. There are sorrows there 
as elsewhere, but there is also a comfort and 
a peace not of earth. The quick, impatient 
word dies upon the lips unspoken. The 
little taunt drops unnoticed, the burden of 
sorrow is borne uncomplainingly by each 
one, lest an added sorrow should lie athwart 
the pathways of the others. For her sweet 
sake those who are left try to keep on 
bravely and cheerfully with the daily round 
of living. The sunshine falls upon the 
rooms in which her dear memory is still 
fragrant. There are cheerful good-morning 
greetings, and tender good-evening farewells. 
When, in the " mid-silence of the voiceless 
night," the sense of loss and loneliness 

<9 



c&rz 6i£q g&d c&rz c^rs G$n c&jd &$tn c&rz g^s^g^c^c^s&p. 
The Longed-for Message 

presses keenest, and out of the darkness 
the soul cries out for the beloved presence, 
whence comes that healing touch, that sense 
of the hearing ear, though without voice of 
response, that relaxing of the tense nerves, 
that peaceful sleep ? 

If we were but in perfect tune, as are tele- 
graphic instruments in high towers, keyed 
to receive messages from other instruments 
miles away, might not influences strong, 
sweet, and helpful touch us from out the 
"vast secret distances," even as sun calls to 
planet, and star to star across spaces too 
great for earthly measuring lines. 
There is no open vision. Some day when 
eyes grow clearer and souls are refined from 
earthly clinging thoughts, there may come 
the audible voice and the visible form. 
Till then let us listen to what we have, and 
open our hearts to the silent whisper. 



20 



The Unrecognized Message 




It lies around us like a cloud, 

The world we do not see; 
Yet the sweet closing of an eye 

May bring us there to be. 

Its gentle breezes fan our cheek 

Amid our earthly cares; 
Its gentle voices whisper love, 

And mingle with our prayers. 

Sweet hearts around us throb and beat, 
Sweet helping hands are stirred, 

And palpitates the veil between, 
With breathings almost heard. 

Sweet souls around us, watch us still, 

Press nearer to our side ; 
Into our thoughts, into our prayers, 

With gentle helping glide. 

Harriet Beecber Stowe, 



22 



s^to z^fo &&1) c&n> c$ra a#n> ^rs d£r^ o$rs ^q ^m ^n s^e^na^n 




The Unrecognized 
Message 

g^n s^ £^fo ^$ra &kn> £$n o^ ^n &^n c$n c$n <^tn> o£nj &§n e^n 

jjNE beautiful afternoon two 
women, mother and daugh- 
ter, stepped out on a ter- 
race commanding a wide 
view of the sea. Little 
paths ran here and there 
from the cliffs to the rocks and to beaches 
far below. The two women had been in 
the shadow of a great sorrow, and had come 
out from their darkened home for a few 
hours' diversion, to try to store up from the 
crisp air and cheerful sunshine courage to 
help them through the lonely days. Their 
plan had been that the older woman should 
sit quietly on the piazza, while the daughter 
rambled about for an hour on the cliffs. 
cc It is so lovely and so high here/' said the 
mother, " that you can see it all just as 
well as to go scrambling about down there." 

23 



The Unrecognized Message 

But the other, fond from her youth of the 
woods and fields, longed for a closer view. 
" I will not be long away. You can see me 
almost all the time." And settling her 
mother comfortably where the beautiful pan- 
orama was spread out before her, she stepped 
lightly down the path. 

It wound between little clumps of cedar 
and juniper, it dipped between great rocks 
to where the sea broke in green water and 
white foam. Beside the path great purple 
asters lighted up rock crevices. Rose hips 
glowed like carbuncles in the sunlight, pale 
olive juniper berries clustered on low bushes, 
and the bayberries hid under fragrant leaves. 
Wherever she stepped her eye met some- 
thing beautiful. As the path wound in and 
out she could see the quiet figure on the 
piazza and at times waved her hand to her, 
half wondering that there was no response, 
but thinking, " She can see me come and go 
and will understand how much all this means 

to me." 

24 



ctin ^n zitn s^rs ^n stir* o$n s^ra a£rs si^ra g^p* c$ta f&ji> c$n £$n> 
The Unrecognized Message 

At last the path came out at the top of 
the cliff. As she stood in relief against the 
sky, she looked back at the piazza. " She 
can surely see me here," she thought. A 
trail led down to a shingly beach, but she 
forbore to go, for she thought, " It will take 
me out of her sight, and the time will seem 
long to her." So half reluctantly she re- 
traced her steps and soon rejoined her 
mother, bringing back treasures gathered 
for her by the way. 

" Did the time seem long, dear ? " she 
asked. 

" Not very," hesitated she, with sweet unself- 
ishness, but the tone showed that the waiting 
had not been like the happy rambling. 
" Did n't you see me wave my hand to 
you r 

" No," was the answer. 

" Could n't you see me against the sky, 
when I stood on the cliff yonder ? " 
" No, I could not see well enough to dis- 
tinguish you from the other people." 

25 



c$n z$n e^ra c^tn G$n ctin z$n G$n z^n G^^tn^tnc^G^tnc^n 
The Unrecognized Message 

Night brought a return to their city home. 
As the younger woman laid her head upon 
her pillow, her sorrow pressed upon her all 
the more heavily for the temporary relief 
of the afternoon, and she longed for the 
loved one who had passed beyond her 
sight. 

Then the thought came to her: "How 
different to-day it was for mother, waiting 
alone upon the piazza, from what it was for 
me, enjoying those things I dearly love. 
She could not see or hear me, yet I was 
conscious all the while of her, and watching 
the time when I should return to her and 
we go home together. Can it be that this 
is symbolic? She whom I mourn is wan- 
dering among delights which I can only 
imagine, as mother could not share my 
happy little walk. But my absent one may 
be conscious of me, she may even try to 
signal to me, but my earth-blind eyes are 
too dim to see. She may be gathering for 
me sweet heavenly thoughts, as I did the 

26 



c&n c$n G^n <^n g^tz a4to c$n <ritn> z$n ^n ^e^a^d^^ 
The Unrecognized Message 

flowers and berries for mother to-day. 
Though I cannot see her, she is there, and 
across the distance she may know of me 
and my quiet waiting for her. Mother 
would not have kept me from that happy 
hour on the cliffs because she was not 
strong enough to go with me; shall I grieve 
that my dear one wanders in the joyful 
heavenly fields, where my feet are not yet 
permitted to go ? Is not this a message 
sent to strengthen my sad waiting heart 
through the lonely days that must come 
till she comes for me and we go home 
together ? " 

This thought was full of comfort, and her 
sorrowful heart found rest. 



27 




Upward I turn my weary blinded eyes, 

And strive to search through all the spaces wide 

Where doth — I cry unto the silent skies — 
The little sister now abide ! 



Oh, Father ! Wheresoever she may be — 
Whether amid the starry spheres above, 

Or in some world no human eye can see — - 
Guard and surround her with Thy love. 

C. A. M. Webb. 



The Message 

of the 
Evening Star 




f 



■■■;- ,-: ' 



Another hand is beckoning us, 

Another call is given; 
And glows once more with Angel-steps 

The path that reaches Heaven. 

John Green leaf Whit tier. 



3° 



£^rs z$n c$n &§n c$n rtto ^tn z^rs ctfo s^n> si^rs o&q z 



)ok 



The M essage 

of the 
Evening Star 




>RIEF has many phases. 
There are times when a 
blessed powerlessness to feel 
comes over the sorrowing 
one, and he says in surprise, 
"Can it be that I am com- 
forted so soon ? Is this my loyalty to the 
dead?" Then a word, a look, something 
unseen or unthought of, unlocks the barred- 
up gates of feeling, and like a flood the old 
sorrow sweeps over us, with its " black and 
icy wave." Hope is gone, faith is but a 
shadow to which we cling because we do not 
dare to let it go, but it is only a shadow, 
and does not hold us up. 
In such a mood as this, one winter twilight, 
a woman deeply bereaved hurried from her 
house, where she had been vainly struggling 
3' 



c&n> &&n ^q 6^fo c^rs rtito c$n s^fo a$Q s^ c$r* c&n c&n g^t^ c^n 

The Message of the Evening Star 

for peace and submission. " Why should 
a life like hers I loved, which always 
brought healing and strength to sorrow and 
weakness, — a life so needed here, — be 
quenched in darkness when so many useless 
lives are left to drag upon brave souls and 
keep them down ? Does God know what 
He is doing, when He burdens so those who 
are trying to serve Him ? It is such an 
awful waste to take one so young and so 
ready and able to help this poor sorrowful 
old world bear its burden of sin and misery. 
Can it be that the next life, if there is 
any, will be only this same old story of 
cruel limitation and hopeless struggle, or 
else dark extinction ? Was that beautiful 
life we all loved so much put out as we 
blow out a candle ? If not, then where is 
she ? Oh, if I could only know a little about 
her, and what she is doing ? Why could I 
not be told, if there was anything to tell ? " 
Every nerve and fibre in her being rebelled 
and cried out as these thoughts surged 

32 



c&n> G$n z$rz z$n> e^Q o&q s^rs si£q s^T3 o$n z^ c^ ctirz G^tn z$n 
The Message (?//^ Evening Star 

through her brain, and would not be argued 
or prayed down. And with them came 
those gloomy forebodings of still heavier 
calamities which always haunt those who 
walk in shadowed pathways. The winter 
twilight was shutting down, a quiet night 
was coming on. As she walked slowly on, 
too full of thought to notice much about 
her, she turned to one side, where the pretty 
suburban street wound around the hill, to 
where a wide expanse of sky opened toward 
the west. There, calmly clear and luminous, 
shone down the evening star. A thrill shot 
through and through her as she looked up 
almost startled. It seemed in some way as 
if a message trembled there for her. She 
could not read it in words, or even make it 
clear to her thought, but vaguely it spoke 
of the hand that hung and kept it there, of 
great world-forces working smoothly and in 
infinite silence, of mysterious intelligences 
that respond to still more mysterious laws 
yet unread. It seemed as if the star was 

33 



st£ts o£q ?$n £$n f&tz c&n c$n> z$n> z^c^G^G&itito&toctin 
The Message of the Evening Star 

trying to telegraph to her, but she could not 
understand the cipher. The tension of her 
mood relaxed, faith and hope swept back as 
the tide turns and sweeps back into the empty 
desolate pools and fills the whole shore with 
life and gladness. Once more she could see 

" God is in His heaven 
And all's well with the world." 

Again and again, as the evening star has lit 
its lamp, has this mysterious message thrilled 
her. And not her alone. See how again 
and again, in song and story, the star has 
brought an inscrutable message which no one 
quite interprets. 

" As I came down along the height 
I saw the evening star, 
Benignant, near, the nearest lamp 

Among the worlds afar. 
Oh, kindly close it looked on me. 
To keep a lone child company 
With all love-looks that are ! 

Some kinship here I cannot read 
Because it lies too deep! " 
34 



G^m o%3 ^$ra c&n c&n o&q ^rs c$n &&n> g$t* c$n e&n c$q o£q c&n 

The Message ofthe Evening Star 

How the child in Dickens' sweetest story, 
" The Child and the Star," dreams of his 
lost playmate and the star, linking them to- 
gether mysteriously in his thoughts, "when 
the star made long rays down toward him, as 
he saw it through his tears. Now these rays 
were so bright, and they seemed to make 
such a shining way from earth to heaven, 
that when the child went to his solitary bed, 
he dreamed about the star. . . . He saw a 
train of people taken up that sparkling road 
by angels. And the star opening showed him 
a great world of light. . . . From that time 
forth the child looked out upon the star as 
on the home he was to go to, when his time 
should come; and he thought that he did not 
belong to the earth alone, but to the star too* 
because of his sister's angel gone before." 
How Matthew Arnold's strong voice in 
" Rugby Chapel " calls to mind his noble 
father and his great life ! Here is still the 
same thought in the "far-shining sphere," 
though more subtly veiled : — 

35 



g$jd e^Q rtfo G$n z$n si£q z$n r^ra sStn> s^rs z$n c$n c&rz G$n ctfto 
The Message ^//^ Evening Star 

" Oh, strong soul, by what shore 
Tarriest thou now ? For that force 
Surely has not been left vain ! 
Somewhere, surely, afar, 
In the sounding labor-house vast 
Of being, is practised that strength, 
Zealous, beneficent, firm! 

" Yes, in some far-shining sphere, 

Conscious or not of the past, 

Still thou performest the word 

Of the spirit in whom thou dost live, — 

Prompt, unwearied, as here ! 
. Still thou upraisest with zeal 

The humble good from the ground, 

Sternly repressest the bad ! " 

Can it be that the evening star holds this 
secret for us? It is a neighbor world, not 
far away as interstellar spaces go. Our little 
earth feels its mysterious tug, as it sways in 
its orbit obedient to its pull. It is a world 
like ours in many ways, with all the dear 
familiar night and day — even its starry sky 
cannot be totally unlike — can it be that 
" There, oh, there is that land " ? 

36 



s^n z$n £$n stfcrs etto st£q a£ra rtito a£ra a^ rttn Gitorttoc&nc&n 
The Message ^//^ Evening Star 

Unprofitable speculations, say we all. Yet 
our hearts break with the silence. The 
empty hands stretch out towards the heavens, 
and " no white wings downward fly! " 
A home implies the wontedness and sacred- 
ness of a place all our own, and to which we 
belong. Even a heavenly home would be 
incomplete without a place of abode, a man- 
sion prepared and suitable for us. Why not 
let us take the message of the evening star, 
and let its clear shining speak to us of the 
beauty and peace of a real place somewhere 
which enfolds these parted loves of ours ? 
This inscrutable pull upon our heart-strings, 
this vague peace and comfort may be the 
call of soul to soul across the far heavenly 
spaces. 

C( Star to star vibrates light ; may soul to soul 
Strike through a finer element of her own ? 
So — from afar — touch us at once ? ' ' 

" Across the awful spaces 
The greeting of a soul we send ! ' ' 



37 



The Message of Faith 




Still on the lips of all we question 
The finger of God's silence lies ; 

Will the lost hands in ours be folded ? 
Will the shut eyelids ever rise ? 

O friends ! no proof beyond this yearning, 
This outreach of our hearts, we need ; 

God will not mock the hope He giveth, 
No love He prompts shall vainly plead. 

Then let us stretch our hands in darkness, 
And call our loved ones o'er and o'er; 

Some day their arms shall close about us, 
And the old voices speak once more. 

John Greenleaf Wbittier. 



40 



r$n s$n> gt£t3 o$rs s^ra a£n> z^rz a&Q ^£n> s^n z^n i^^dr3nk 

The Message of 
Faith 




£^n g^To ^Q S^TS o£H) £l£Q 61&T3 6^Td g^Q Z^ln Z^ G^ G^ C$TZ £$J1> 

)OT many days ago, a com- 
pany of sorrowing friends 
gathered to bid a last good- 
by to one greatly beloved. 
The sunlight poured through 
the windows, touching and 
lighting up masses of beautiful flowers, heaped 
wherever they could be placed. Great 
sheaves of Easter lilies, pink half-open roses, 
lilies of the valley, and rich purple clusters 
of heliotrope filled the air with their delicate 
fragrance. Lying among the flowers was a 
sweet face, worn with the marks of suffering, 
but calm with an ineffable peace. 
The silence was gently broken by the sweet 
tones of a few clear voices, softly singing 
words of perfect trust, — 

4 1 



£t£q st$q c$n <rtfo c&n c&rz o£q s^ o£q rtto c$n c&n z$n c$n e$n 
The Message*/* Faith 

"In heavenly love abiding, 

No change my heart shall fear, 
And safe is such confiding, 

For nothing changes here : 
The storm may roar without me, 

My heart may low be laid, 
But God is round about me, 

And can I be dismayed ? " 

As the singing ceased, another voice, vibrat- 
ing with deep yet controlled emotion, spoke 
those words which have comforted so many 
hearts bowed down before the mystery of 
death, — " Blessed are the dead which die in 
the Lord." As the voice went on, a great 
peace fell upon the quiet company. The 
tears still gathered ; the sorrow was not lifted, 
but with it came the sweetness of hope. The 
words were true. They were not idle tales. 
"God shall wipe away all tears from their 
eyes ; and there shall be no more death, 
neither sorrow, nor crying." The voice 
went on in words of prayer, — the prayer 
which is like talking face to face with a lov- 
ing friend who knows our deepest needs and 

42 



rfto ^q z$n s%^ G$n rtkm ctirz z$n r$rs z^c^Gitoc^rttoc&rz 
The Message of Faith 

longs to give us help. Unto Him these 
stricken ones gave their sorrow, and His 
answer was peace. All is well with her, all 
is well that comes to us from Him. We 
will wait in hope till the morning dawns, and 
the shadows flee away. 

Then with strong and gentle hands the 
peaceful face was covered from sight, and 
gently borne out into the sunshine, with 
the little company silently following to the 
quiet hillside resting-place, made ready for 
those whom we call dead, but whom God 
calls living. The bright autumn sunlight 
fell upon them. The air was full of calm. 
It seemed almost as if another little com- 
pany, unseen and gracious, was bending 
above them, in whose care they might leave 
that dear one when they turned away. 
Here another voice, in calm and sympathetic 
tones, spoke those words that for centuries 
have hushed the mourners' sobs, — "I am 
the resurrection, and the life." Then loving 
hands of those nearest and dearest silently 

43 



s^n s$rz z$n r$ra g$ji> srfin st£n s^fo si£q e^fo &$n <?&!) c$rz £$T6 o#n 
The Message ^/ Faith 

dropped flowers upon the flower-covered 
coffin, — the last kindness that they could 
do for her, whose whole life had been one 
loving service for them. 
Slowly and reluctantly we turned and left 
her there. Even the flowers that hid the 
grave's mouth could not conceal the cruel 
fact. Of the beautiful life, nothing was now 
left but a beautiful memory. 
But if that is true, whence came that strange 
peace and trust ? How could those who 
had loved her, and before whom she had 
gone in and out for years, lose that gracious 
presence, and yet keep that look of hope 
upon their faces ? 

Her life had been a beautifully quiet one, 
full of the sweet ministries of home. Wher- 
ever her life touched other lives, she made 
them purer and happier. The loveliness of 
her character had diffused itself as the subtle 
fragrance of violets fills the woodland spaces. 
What will sustain these friends through the 
weary days to come, when the sense of loss 



The Message of Faith 

grows deeper and deeper, as she comes not 
back again, as she used to do after a brief 
absence ? The burdened days will have a 
hidden spring of strength. A peace which 
the world cannot understand will gather 
them under its wings. The Christian's 
faith, so intangible to those who have it not, 
so present and real to those who possess it, 
will uplift and comfort them. 
The beautiful memory of that life will be 
a constant joy and inspiration, and who 
knows, perhaps even more than that, — a 
blessed presence abiding in that household, 
as though she still was nearer than they 
thought. In the darkness of the night 
hour mysterious help will come. Even the 
night shall be light about them. Such a life 
has not stopped. It is going on somewhere, 
pure, gracious, real. They shall find it 
again and be blessed by it. 
Centuries ago, to a little group of tearful, 
startled women, clinging to each other beside 
a tomb in a garden, an angel spoke strong 

45 



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The Message 0/ Faith 

words of hope. " Why seek ye the living 
among the dead ? He is not here, but is 
risen." The angel's message of comfort has 
echoed in the Christian heart ever since. 
We make beautiful the quiet resting-places 
of our dear ones, because our hearts yearn 
to do some little loving service for them, but 
we know that they are not there. With St. 
John the Divine we have had glimpses of 
that other life. Its glories rise before us in 
the vision of the Golden City with its gates 
of pearl. We hear the voices, like the sound 
of many waters, of the numberless multi- 
tudes from earth who dwell therein. We 
get hints of their unceasing joy in serving 
God "day and night in his temple," and of 
their blessed companionship with Him who 
dwells among them, and whose face they 
see. 

These are visions, indeed, but our faith has 
another resting-place. In the clear voice of 
Him who lived in the eternal glory with the 
Father before the world was, and so knew 

46 



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The Message 0/ Faith 

whereof He spake, these beatific visions give 
place to divine promises. We no longer 
grope in darkness, but dwell in light. u In 
my Father's house are many mansions: if it 
were not so, I would have told you. I go 
to prepare a place for you. And if I go and 
prepare a place for you, I will come again, 
and receive you unto myself; that where I 
am, there ye may be also." This is enough. 
It includes all that we crave. Our faith in 
Him answers our deepest longing. Its 
message leaves no room for doubt. Our 
loved ones are with Christ. They have 
but reached home before us. 

" And we shall find once more, beyond earth's sorrows, 

Beyond these skies, 
In the fair city of the 'sure foundations,' 

Those heavenly eyes, 
With the same welcome shining through their sweetness, 

That met us here ; 
Eyes from whose beauty God has banished weeping 

And wiped away the tear." 



47 




Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto 
you : not as the world giveth, give I unto you. 
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
afraid. (John xiv. 27.) 



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